


At Waters Edge

by ravenhairedtrickster



Category: The Hobbit (2012), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 04:09:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenhairedtrickster/pseuds/ravenhairedtrickster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's about time they have a bath. Bilbo just wasn't expecting it to be in a lake, but nobody else seems to mind. As he struggles to get into the water, he has a little additional help from Bofur. Nobody said helping someone could be so dangerous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Waters Edge

**Author's Note:**

> Based very loosely on page 108 of the Hobbit, where they bathe in a river. This is a mix of movie!verse and book!verse.

To say Hobbits found water quite undesirable, would frankly be an understatement. The possibility of drowning was never very far from any of their minds, unless of course they were in their Hobbit hole, enjoying a steaming bubble bath with a glass of tea or wine whilst they soaked.

Lakes were other matters entirely, they weren't warm, nor did they have bubbles floating pleasantly at the surface, sweet aromas wafting up. No, no. Lakes were for fishing, not bathing.

The Dwarves didn't seem to mind the water, nor disrobing in order to properly bathe. Bilbo huffed, his nose upturned as he fought his straying gaze. He'd never seen any of them naked, and now they had thrown modesty out the window in favour of frolicking in the lake. 

"The pebbles are slimy," Ori whined, "and it's _cold_."

Bilbo stole a glance at the complaining Dwarf as he himself put one whole foot in the water. The pebbles were slimy, a thick layer coating their surface, it vaguely brought back the memory of Gollum's lake at the base of the Misty Mountains, full of slippery pale fish and slime covered walls. It'd be best put those memories away, Bilbo reasoned and nodded to himself when he was no longer thinking of the dark cave and instead focusing on getting more than one foot in the water.

"It's not so bad once ye get in," Bofur gasped, he had waded too deep and Bilbo watched as his head disappeared under the water. A second later the Dwarf came up sputtering and laughing, his hair plastered to his bare shoulders, his eyes alight with something Bilbo certainly had never seen.

"Fancy a dive did ya, Bofur?" Dwalin asked some yards away, much closer to the shore than most of the others save for Balin who simply waded in only up to his belly and Ori who was still picking his way into the lake, now knee deep in it.

The remainder of the company were floating on the surface, like Bombur, Bifur and Nori for example, while others tried their hand at swimming, Kili and Fili whom were playfully arguing over who could dog paddle the quickest around their uncle, Thorin who appeared to take no notice of the two swimming quite sloppily around him.

Some had had their share of the lake and were leaving, sitting on the shore and stretching out. Bilbo definitely didn't look at them for although a few of the Dwarves weren't overly chubby they were still quite hairy and one could get an unpleasant eye full if not too careful.

A splash alerted Bilbo to the fact that Ori had made his way in, but upon looking he saw Dwalin laughing and Ori squealing from the cold as his head broke the surface of the water. He looked something like a drowned... well a drowned Dwarf, spitting out water his braids loose, near undone as he glared at Dwalin.  
"If I'd my slingshot right now," he threatened weakly, Dwalin shrugged. 

"You had to get in sooner or later, preferably sooner since we aren't staying here all day." 

Ori snorted but seemed content now that he was in the water, even ducking beneath the water a few more times saying he was rinsing his hair since they had no soaps. Dwalin again laughed, commenting that Ori was quite possibly half Elf - to which Thorin frowned - because he needed to smell good instead of musky like most Dwarves were.

Bilbo had been distracted watching the scene and hadn't noticed Bofur creeping up on him, slinking through the water like an eel, far better swimmer than most despite the mishap earlier.

"Bilbo," Bofur said when he was in knee deep water. "You can't just stand there, surely you need a wash as much as the rest of us do."

The Hobbit gaped at the Dwarf, beneath all the tunics and layers, knitted gloves and scarf Bofur was, well, pale standing there completely nude, seemingly just as uncaring as the rest of them. Of course, he doesn't care, why should any of them care, they're used to this kind of thing, bathing in lakes and streams because they don't have a home. 

The thought swirled within Bilbo's head a few moments longer. And when Bofur walked to him, took his hand and began to lead him into the water Bilbo remember quite suddenly that he too was naked, his blush hopefully not noticed by the others. When about waist deep he stopped and watched as Bofur simply eased into the water, oddly graceful. 

"I should say you could be a naiad, Bofur," Bilbo said and the whole company gave him a strange look. "Well, he seems very comfortable in the damned stuff."

"But what's a naiad?" Ori asked and it was Balin that answered.

"A naiad is a type of nymph, to be precise a water nymph."

Ori nodded in understanding, his eyes gone wide as he stared at Bofur as if he were waiting for the Dwarf to sprout gills or fins.

"I am no such thing, dear burglar," Bofur replied with a smile, lifting a hand out of the water to beckon Bilbo in. "I merely find water to be soothing, especially on great journeys like these."

"And what great journeys have you been on prior to this one?" Thorin asked, surprising most everyone since he had been rather quiet the whole time.

"Well, my King to be under the mountain," Bofur replied, dipping his face into the water before him in gesture of a bow. "Absolutely none. Unless you count traveling to the summons of lords and ladies wanting toys made for their younglings or jewelry made, by yours truly, for their beloveds."

Thorin scoffed. "Of course those do not count."

Bofur shrugged, "They were great enough to warrant us the need to bathe in bodies of water such as this."

"Even in winter?" Bilbo asked despite himself. 

Bofur gave him a funny look, then laughed. "No! Never in winter, Bombur, Bifur and I don't travel to lands where the snow piles high, it becomes bothersome and tiring to walk through, especially at this height." 

"I see," Bilbo replied, not sure whether he was disappointed by the answer given or not.

"But enough about travels!" Bofur exclaimed, crossing his arms across his chest. "When are you going to get in the water."

Bilbo looked away sheepishly. 

"Perhaps never," he was about to say when Bofur cut him off, suddenly and rather violently tugging him in. It wasn't all that violent to be honest but Bilbo found it was much deeper where the Dwarf had stood and his feet didn't touch the bottom. He wordlessly slipped beneath the surface, going stiff as he inwardly panicked. He didn't know how to swim, it was too deep, he was going to drown!

His life didn't flash before his eyes, instead he found himself looking into mirky waters, and he could hear muffled voices. His pulse pounded in his head, heart beating rapidly and then his feet touched and his legs bent.

Bilbo sat on the bottom of the lake, his eyes straining, stinging and oh were those feet he saw? A hand maybe? He breathed out, inhaling in response and his vision darkened as the water sat heavy in his lungs, his throat, choking him, suffocating him. 

The voice were gone now and he supposed this wasn't too bad, though the erratic fluttering of his heart greatly disturbed him. No, no, this wasn't bad at all. Drowning had always been a scary thought, now it was the warm embrace of a arm around his chest - and suddenly he was thrown into a world of light and yelling. 

"Bilbo? Bilbo!" A voice too close to his ear shouted. He felt heavy, so heavy in the arms that held him, carried him.

Darkness consumed him as he was laid out on dry ground and finally, _finally_ , his heart stopped its loud racket. 

It was sudden. Bilbo tried to scream as the world came rushing back, life forced its way into his body, water half spewing half being coughed from him as he rolled onto his side. He laid there trembling, coughing, panting, aware but unaware and so cold, oh god he was cold.

"C-cold," he gasped painfully, light headed and weak. 

"My tunic!" Somebody yelled and he heard scrambling and rummaging and something rough but decidedly warm wrapped around him accompanied by something firm and soft at the same time. He pressed into it, still catching his breath. 

Words were being thrown all around him, arguments and a soft voice from somewhere behind it all asking if he'd be okay because it was too soon to write the death of anybody down in the transcribes. 

Bilbo recognized that voice. It was... oh who was it? Ori. And the two directly above him, Dwalin and Thorin, and the one beside him, pressed to him, muttering quiet words in a language he didn't know. Begging occasionally in a tongue he could understand that the burglar live, oh just let the Hobbit live.

"Bofur," he said.

"Bilbo?" The Dwarf asked, "Oh Bilbo, I had no intention of drowning ya! The stars forgive me, I thought ye could swim! I'm sorry, so sorry!"

"Bofur," Bilbo murmured, cracking a bleary eye open to look at the Dwarfs worried face, nearly grief stricken. "I reckon I should've told somebody..."

Bofur shook his head, "Will ye forgive me?" He asked urgently.

"Later perhaps," he replied a teasing grin on his face as he buried his face in the Dwarfs warm, albeit still damp, chest, not even minding the hair that dusted it. "When I've rested and ate."

"Yes, right. Somebody get food going!" Bofur near howled at the company. 

Bilbo shook his head. "Not yet, Bofur, just let me lie here. You almost killed me," he reminded, feeling some strength returning to him, "so for now just hold me."

"Aye," Bofur replied, nodding his wet braided hair, cradling the Hobbit to him. "I can do that."


End file.
